Notes from London

"When a man is tired of London, he is tired of life; for there is in London all that life can afford."

-Samuel Johnson.

"I hate London...it's a toilet."

-Gal (Ray Winstone). Sexy Beast - 2001

London. Few cities polarise peoples opinions as this city does. Me, I love it. My two weeks back here felt like being back home.

This trip got off to a great start. I was at Melbourne Airport and a friend of mine was out there picking up her boyfriend who had just arrived from London. It was good timing that she happened to be there when I was going, so we all went for a coffee before my flight. Her boyfriend was saying how weird it was that he had just arrived from London and I was about to go there, then he said, "Hey, do you want to look after my apartment while you are there?". So he gave me the address and the keys to his apartment, and I had only just met the guy. Sometimes life is too cool. Ahh, travelling always restores my faith in the goodness of people.

The flight was as good as could be expected for sitting in a aluminium tube for 22 hours. I got to spend a few hours roaming the streets of Hong Kong, which was fantastic. I caught the train to Kowloon then got the ferry across the harbour, which gives you a sensational view of the Hong Kong city skyline at night.

With only two hours on Hong Kong island, I only had one mission; to eat. So I wandered the streets until I found what I thought to be suitable food and pointed at the picture on the menu of what looked like noodles. I mimed that I wanted take away and when I found a picturesque place to sit down, I opened up the lid and saw that I got a bucket of tripe, liver, brain (I think) and various other stinky pieces of offal that will forever remain unidentifiable. It was hilarious. I settled for a packet of chinese vegatable chips, hoping that the cute looking cats on the packet weren't the actual contents.

So I am in London now, living it up in luxury compared to the "shabby chique" accommodations that I have stayed in here previously, generally enjoying the man of leisure lifestyle. I have friends and relatives to visit and contacts to arrange before I get to Ireland. Even the weather has come to the party...23 deg C yesterday and 21 today...unseasonably good for GB.

It's very easy here at the moment. I almost feel like I have come back home, a second home at least. I have some local friends here, as well as some Australian work colleagues who just got here last month to start their two year work odyssey. It was only yesterday when I was walking past the Irish shop in Covent Garden that I remembered why I am here. I don't know anyone in Ireland, where I'm going to stay or what I am going to do, which is the way I like it.

I am going to visit my Aunty today. She was an Aussie but she came here thirty years ago and never came back. She now sounds like the Queen. Speaking of the Queen, it's been Queen mum overload here. They are moving the Queen Mums cadava tomorrow out to Windsor. It'll be mad.

James